Poster thumbnail 1
Poster thumbnail 2
+7
images
Not currently on display at the V&A

Poster

1965-1970 (designed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Fredun Shapur is a toy designer and illustrator based in London. From the 1960s onwards, Shapur created innovative and distinctive design products for international companies such as Naef, Galt Toys, Fischerform and Selecta and especially for Creative Playthings. His work is remarkable for fostering children’s imagination through a wide range of playful learning opportunities that appeal to both children and adults. A strong visual language of flat planes and saturated colour united Shapur’s work across two and three dimensions.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Parts
This object consists of 10 parts.

  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
  • Posters
Materials and techniques
Colour printing on paper
Brief description
Set of 10 posters designed by Fredun Shapur for the Creative Playthings toy shop, New York, late 1960s
Physical description
A series of ten large colour printed posters, each depicting a child on a flat coloured background. The children are represented in typical Shapur style, with simplified graphic faces, using flat blocks of saturated colour.
Dimensions
  • Height: 97cm
  • Width: 63cm
Style
Production typeLimited edition
Credit line
Given by Fredun Shapur
Object history
In the late 1960s, Creative Playthings opened a retail shop in Manhattan, New York, and Fredun Shapur continued his work as their graphic designer. He created ten designs to indicate different forms of play (e.g. social, actice, dramatic) and products that were available in the shop. From 1969, these ten images were used to separate sections of the mail order catalogue and tiled to create wrapping paper. They were also issued, as here, in a set of ten posters for sale in the shop.
Subjects depicted
Summary
Fredun Shapur is a toy designer and illustrator based in London. From the 1960s onwards, Shapur created innovative and distinctive design products for international companies such as Naef, Galt Toys, Fischerform and Selecta and especially for Creative Playthings. His work is remarkable for fostering children’s imagination through a wide range of playful learning opportunities that appeal to both children and adults. A strong visual language of flat planes and saturated colour united Shapur’s work across two and three dimensions.
Bibliographic reference
Mira Shapur and Amy F Ogata, Fredun Shapur: playing with Design, Editions Piqpoq, Paris, 2013.
Collection
Accession number
B.33:1 to 10-2015

About this object record

Explore the Collections contains over a million catalogue records, and over half a million images. It is a working database that includes information compiled over the life of the museum. Some of our records may contain offensive and discriminatory language, or reflect outdated ideas, practice and analysis. We are committed to addressing these issues, and to review and update our records accordingly.

You can write to us to suggest improvements to the record.

Suggest feedback

Record createdJuly 23, 2015
Record URL
Download as: JSON